8 Holiday Light Tutorials for Photoshop

In honor of the eight nights of Hanukkah, and all the other light-filled holidays that warm up the winter, I am sharing a round-up of eight light effect tutorials for graphic designers. I hand picked these tutorials from around the web, choosing the ones that would work well for holiday-themed designs. The light effects will liven up holiday calendars, invitations, greeting cards and marketing promotions. Whether you are decking out your company's home page for the holidays, or creating a holiday version of your logo, use these light effect ideas to make those designs joyous, bright and celebratory! 1. Learn a 10 step Photoshop light effect. In the tutorial, the designer uses a coffee cup logo as an example, but try using this technique on a reindeer, pine tree, star or any other holiday imagery. Source: Abuzeedo.com.

2. Add sunlight to a photo. Take a photograph from ordinary to celestial with this light tutorial. Perfect for winter landscape photographs or seasonal pictures of children ice skating or sledding. Source: www.9tuts.com. 3. Apply this cool lighting effect in Photoshop. On the front of  a New Year's party invitation I could see the number 2011 backlit with this effect. Source: www.psd.tutsplus.com. 4. Create a glowing light painting effect. I don't know about you, but in the picture below I see a row of lit-up gingerbread cookies crossing the street. Source: www.psd.tutsplus.com. 5. Manipulate a photo with a ray of light. Nothing is more celestial than a beam of light from the heavens illuminating a photograph. This is the pefect effect for a holiday card with angels! Source: www.photoshoptutorials.ws. 6. Create simple light stripes. These bars of light are well suited for a more minimalist holiday design. I think this effect could dress up an an e-mail promotion or landing page. Source: www.jay-han.com. 7. Write in a Photoshop glow lighting effect. This could be a good way to create a holiday version of your logo online. The glowing font would also look great on the front of a New Year's party invitation. Source: www.elastique.com.au. 8. Use a rocking silhouette for holiday design. This versatile silhouette tutorial can be used to illuminate a menorah, a winter landscape or any other holiday design. Source: www.psd.tutsplus.com. Happy Hanukkah. If you have any other suggestions for holiday design tutorials please share them with other readers in the comments.